Nameberry Heresies: Some nameberry faves are not loved by all

Yesterday, as I was writing about the favorite names on nameberry, it seemed as if all was in perfect harmony and solidarity, complete sweetness and sunshine on the site, and that nameberry.com was as tranquil a place as Mayberry R.F.D.

Not totally true.

Turns out that some visitors are as passionately opposed to some of the popular names on the site as others are passionately in favor of them. And so a kind of rebel thread was set up called Secret Name Heresies, where people could voice–make that vent–their negative feelings. And vent is what they/you have been doing, often in EMPHATIC CAPITAL letters. Not surprisingly, since our opinions are formed from our individual experiences, there were some who disliked a particular name because of, say, an unshakable association with an obnoxious high school classmate, or with a Disney character they will forever attach to its name. Or in some cases a simple dislike of its image or sound.

Here, from the varied responses, are a few choice, disgruntled, examples–some of which we found hilarious:

GIRLS

ARABELLA — Sounds like some made-up Disney princess who lives in Arabia.

OLIVE — Olive? As in black olives, green olives and extra virgin olive oil? No thank you.
— I just don’t understand why you would name your daughter after a small green appetizer.

OPHELIA — I’m not an Ophelia fan, not only because of the “I’ll feel ya” teasing but because I have a habit of putting the prefixes of “hem” and “ped” before it.

POPPY — I’m all for nature names but this is way too close to “puppy,” not to mention the association with opiates.
— The words “seed muffin” follow this in my head.
— This is what we call my Dad instead of Grandpa, so no.